|
|
|
|
Full throttle at the start
If you accelerate at full throttle you will gain too much speed and when the parachute lifts off the ground you will be yanked to a sudden stop. This places severe stress on the entire system and should be avoided. It may also cause a sudden change in direction.
Too little throttle at the start
As the parachute lifts off the ground you will have maximum drag. Too little throttle will cause the powered parachute to stop rolling forward and the parachute is then trapped in the maximum turbulence area and may twist or flip upside down. If you add a little more power, the parachute may start to lift overhead, run out of power and then drop back. Maximum power is required to start moving forward again. At this point you have very little (or not) speed.
The thrust developed by the propeller to push you forward now is having to push against the parachute! Instead of gaining speed you now have a tug of war going on. If you have wondered why full power sometimes doesn’t do much, now you know why. Unfortunately, all of this takes place behind you, out of view. Try taking off in the morning with the sun behind you and watch the shadow. Some pilots find that a wide angle mirror mounted on the front fork helps to see the parachute. However, do not rely soli on a mirror to see if the parachute is fully inflated. Look up at the parachute to make sure
Taxi too fast or too slow
Now that you can get the parachute overhead smoothly but, the end cells have not yet inflated. This is a common problem. The outer edges of the parachute have the least amount of pressure, therefore they are the last to inflate. The center of the parachute has the most amount of air pressure, therefore it will inflate faster. Once the parachute is overhead in flight position, maintain a taxi speed of 15 mph.
With a ground speed too slow the parachute will be slower in rotating overhead and act mushy and may wander side to side. With a ground speed that is too fast, the parachute will be harder to inflate because air is pushing harder on the closed cells of the parachute. With a ground speed of approximately 15 mph the parachute is overhead but the end cells have not fully inflated then, push both foot bars as far as they will go. This pulls down on the trailing edge of the parachute and helps pressurize it. Hold fully out on both foot bars until both sides are inflated and then release the foot bars to their neutral position against the foot bar stops…do not push one foot bar to inflate a closed end cell. This will cause a turn. Always push on both foot bars even if only one side of the parachute has end cell closure.
Taking off with the end cell closed. This is a dangerous practice!
Part of the safety factor in flying the powered parachute is to make sure that all of the systems are working before you leave the ground. You must establish a safe take off distance at your flying site. If you have used up that distance and the parachute is not ready to fly then STOP. No one would consider flying a Cessna with part of the wing missing! Using flare on take off. This is a dangerous practice!
Pushing on both foot bars (this is also called a flare) will gain more lift on take off. If you need to do that, then your flying site is to short. If you take off with both foot bars pushed out and the engine quits then you will not have the necessary flare needed to land safely. If the engine quits at 20-25’ you will be at maximum angle of attack on the parachute. When the engine quits you will have to get directly under the parachute before the parachute starts to decelerate. With the foot bars pushed out you will have nothing to compensate for the rapid descent and you will hit the ground the hardest way that is possible in the powered parachute.
|
|
Email Us at Joe@QuakerStatePoweredParachutes.com with any questions. Email webmaster@QuakerStatePoweredParachutes.com with any problems with the website. Copyright © 2010
Quaker State Powered Parachutes
|